Newly Discovered Microorganisms From the Deep Sea

Among the huge num­ber of life forms on Earth that are known to mankind, many microor­gan­isms are found in the depths of the ocean. These tiny micro-organ­isms can be daz­zling­ly col­or­ful, or they can have scary shapes. Your atten­tion is pre­sent­ed to the recent­ly dis­cov­ered vari­eties of microor­gan­isms: phy­to­plank­ton and zoo­plank­ton, which play an impor­tant role in reg­u­lat­ing the cli­mate of the entire plan­et.

Unfor­tu­nate­ly, such organ­isms are dis­ap­pear­ing very quick­ly due to cli­mate change. The Tara Okins project is a study for which a 118-foot schooner and a team of researchers were spe­cial­ly com­mis­sioned. They took on the task of dis­cov­er­ing and col­lect­ing these excit­ing life forms. The team has just com­plet­ed a trip that last­ed 2.5 years. In the pho­to you can see their inter­est­ing finds.

These microor­gan­isms are just the tip of the ice­berg. Next year the team will vis­it the Arc­tic to build a new inven­to­ry of the region’s bio­di­ver­si­ty, and in 2014 they will head to the Pacif­ic Ocean to study coral reefs. Research is also planned in South Asia, which has not yet been vis­it­ed.

Con­tin­ue read­ing about oth­er micro-organ­isms in water found in oth­er stud­ies.